U.S. Patent Office Slows the Pace
Of Patents for Business Methods

The U.S. Patent Office has drastically reduced the pace of issuing controversial business-method patents, by setting up bureaucratic roadblocks that have angered some information-technology inventors.

Esther Kepplinger, deputy commissioner for patent operations, said that in the quarter ended Dec. 31, the office granted just 36% of the business-method patents it studied. That was down from 56% in the quarter ended March 31, 2000, when new policies were instituted mandating a second review for that patent type.